#I’m also romancing lucanis again

[bisexualmultifandommess]

I just finished my first playthrough of Veilguard and oh my god it was insane! 😭 I love this video game series it has genuinely made me so happy playing it the games mean a lot to me. Origins is always going to be my favourite but I’ve loved this one. There’s a few things I would’ve changed but overall I enjoyed it a lot.

[hawkesbutt]

Yall I have a solution what if we ALL got to kiss sleepy demon nepo baby

WIP (idk if I’ll finish this, mostly felt like doing something quick and angsty with him in the middle)

[imcoolerinvideogames]

I ended my multi-year hiatus from this app because I knew there would be oodles of dragon age content for me to absorb on here and I must say .. I am pleased

[laurelsofhighever]

On Lucanis and ace representation

I have mixed feelings about it. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

On the one hand, I have been writing ace representation into Dragon Age fandom for at least five years by this point; I have made posts speculating which characters in the franchise could be read as aspec, I have critiqued the conflation between apparent aspec identities and brokenness that happens so often in mainstream media, and I have longed for a canonically aspec character in the stories I love. To me, however, this new declaration about Lucanis does not feel like a victory.

It feels convenient.

Mary Kirby tweeted six months ago that she specifically wrote Lucanis to be a disaster bisexual, not panromantic demisexual. In the real world, of course, people can discover new things about themselves and change their labels, and it’s fine. The problem is that Lucanis is not a people, he is a character with a static set of responses to a limited set of inputs from the player. In other words, he is what he is. That this change in Word of God about his sexuality comes directly on the heels of the very poorly received AMA from the devs is something I don’t view as a coincidence.

To be clear, this isn’t an attack on Mary Kirby, nor is it a tantrum about not getting a sexy Zevran 2.0. I am ace – I love slow burn emotional depth before physical intimacy, and I was drawn to Lucanis because of his struggles with alienation and the softer playfulness that’s there to see if you look for it. (And the voice, and the wings, but that’s not relevant here.) However, there is something severely lacking in the connective tissue of his romance. For the first two thirds of the game he is unresponsive to flirting to the point where the game feels like it’s bugged. Multiple people have pointed out that it’s almost impossible to tell when the romance is locked in without looking at the companion screen – I myself only realised when took him to Rivain with Taash and they started talking about him popping out the wings. The idea that this woodenness was a deliberate choice does a disservice to everyone who has pointed out a valid critique of the content – mechanically, rather than narratively – of the romance.

It is also immediately contradicted if you don’t romance Lucanis. Because instead he gets together with Neve in a relationship that not only lacks the emotional closeness that is required for Rook to lock in a romance, but also gets physical far more quickly, which is the exact opposite of how demisexuality works. For Rook, romancing Lucanis requires repeated declarations of support and care, and he will only fully reciprocate once they have battled through his inner demons to encourage him to start healing from his trauma. Even after that there is no physical touch between them until after Rook is pulled from the Fade prison. Neve, meanwhile, is one of the locks on his cage, but creates a ‘hats off’ rule for Spite. It's like watching Aveline run around finding marigolds for Donnic all over again. Not to say that all ace experiences are the same, but if someone described these two relationships to me, I would assume only one of them involved a demisexual character.

Truthfully, however, this isn’t really about the evidence for whether Lucanis is or is not demi. You could argue that back and forth all day because interpretation goes both ways. For example, he says he’s inexperienced in relationships, but then he’s arguably more competent than the other companions who ask you for romantic help, more lacking in confidence than skill – and analysis of that is a whole other post. But it’s not useful. There isn’t one way to be aspec, and I’m certainly not saying he can’t be read that way.

What this is about is the way representation feels like it has been retconned in as a response to the genuine critiques brought up in the AMA and elsewhere. Excusing the gaps in his romance by saying it’s because he’s demisexual feels like a cheap attempt to divert attention away from weak character writing. Perhaps I’m just being cynical, but after all the dodged questions and misrepresentations from the devs in almost every aspect of this game, if Lucanis had been planned as aspec from the beginning then the TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN game would have made a huge thing of it. I know this, because they did it already, they stated all the companions were pan (except for Lucanis who was bi).

And I don’t know what’s worse: it not being planned and only trotted out as a smokescreen to avoid engaging with the flaws in the writing; or it being there from the beginning without any care for how it might look to have the ostensibly aspec character be a literal abomination whose interpersonal issues stem from being imprisoned and tortured. Again.

A good slow burn would have addressed Lucanis’ relationship to attraction, though hopefully with more nuance than Taash was allowed. A good slow burn would have not made one character exchangeable for another in a romance regardless of the personal journey Lucanis can only take with one of them. A good slow burn would have at least had him reacting to the things the PC says to him. But this is not a good slow burn and the devs are using a token attempt at queer rep to cover for whatever went on behind the scenes to give us such a patchy final product.

[waterunleashed]

I’m so but, I’m so tired of hearing people complain that they are locked out of romancing Lucanis because they didn’t save his city. You left him to face a dragon ALONE. Lucanis does not trust anyone. He is used to people using him, betraying him, hurting him. He is not used to someone genuinely caring for him.

When you get him out of the Ossuary and express care and concern he starts letting his guard down. He sees how you treat everyone in the lighthouse and starts to thing MAYBE, maybe they care. Maybe he can trust you and let you in.

Lucanis is also a man that continually says that a crow never abandons a contract. Basically, your word is your bond. Then a dragon comes to destroy his home, he tells you that innocents are going to be blighted. And he runs to save them and fight for your city. Tell me that going to the other city isn’t a betrayal. Tell me that he didn’t look behind him a hundred times hoping to see you and curse himself for being stupid enough to hope every single time you weren’t there.

Soft, sad words after aren’t going to fix that you decided to leave him to face a dragon alone. Not when this man eventually would’ve fallen for you so deeply that he would try and stab a cloud for you. That he would kill an entire pantheon of Gods just to fall asleep in your arms. You can’t regain that kind of trust after abandoning him.

And for those upset that he is then in a romance with Neve. He wasn’t expecting her to come help his city. He knew that she would try to save hers. He also wasn’t falling for her before that. So there was no broken trust to work around after Treviso is blighted. There is just someone coming to help him pick up the pieces. And as Neve says their relationship is slow and cautious. They aren’t any steamier than that between Rook and Lucanis. However, Neve is a more aggressive flirt than Rook is. When they first meet Neve tells Lucanis he’s hot so it doesn’t surprise me that she is outwardly flirty with him.

Anyways, that’s my rant. I just chose to save Minrathis in my second playthrough to see the other storyline and I HATE it. I will never abandon my crow in another playthrough again. Seeing Lucanis sitting on that bench tore my heart out.

[felassan]

Polygon: 'How Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s writers decided each companion’s romance arc'

Rest of post under a cut due to spoilers.

“There’s so many different flavors of romances with the characters that even if one doesn’t work for you, one of them I think is likely to,” creative director John Epler told Polygon. “But they’re so tied to the character arcs that they become part of that character development as opposed to ‘and also you can romance them on the side.’” For instance, Epler said, Bellara’s romance is purposefully awkward and stilted. (“As Bellara’s writer, I’m very familiar with it,” he added.) “It’s clearly somebody who doesn’t see themselves as someone people are going to want to romance,” he said. “And so one of my favorite things is paying Bellara a compliment, and she takes it in the most awkward [way]. Because she herself as a character, and something you see through her arc, has these issues with how she sees herself, especially after what happened in her past. And so that romance kind of plays off of that as somebody who does have, I wouldn’t say necessarily low self-esteem, but has issues with self-regard. This is how that romance goes, especially if they are themselves a very awkward character.” Meanwhile, Lucanis — who joins the party after you rescue him from an underwater prison where he was tortured for a year after someone in his inner circle betrayed him — has a long road ahead of him in terms of opening up and letting others in. (That also means the results of one big early game choice might cut him off entirely.) “[He] has an arc that’s very much about family and letting people get close and seeing what happens,” said Epler. “And so with his romance, you get more of a slow burn where it doesn’t feel like you’re ever getting quite as close to him as maybe you want until the very end.” In addition to the player-chosen romance arcs, some companions you haven’t chosen to romance might enter romantic relationships with one another (or in the case of one character, with an NPC that isn’t in your party). This isn’t the first time non-romanced party members get together: A fan favorite, for example, is Qunari mercenary Iron Bull and Tevinter mage Dorian Pavus in Dragon Age: Inquisition. But Veilguard has more opportunity than ever before for these side romances to blossom. It all came down, once again, to what made sense for these characters’ own arcs. Bellara doesn’t romance anyone outside of Rook because, as Epler said, she is a “very focused person with a very specific obsession.” Romance isn’t exactly on the top of her mind. For Taash and Harding, however, a romance made perfect sense — both characters navigate accepting who they are and how that fits in with what they thought they knew about the communities and cultures they hail from."

“I think one of my favorite parts of that arc is how much compatibility comes through as you go through their arcs and you realize these are two people […] broken in ways that are so complementary to allow them to heal each other,” said Epler. “They end up developing this very lovely relationship, lovely romance that makes sense for the both of them.” Players might understandably want to go into the game without any spoilers about what characters might get together. But if you’re heading into your second playthrough and you already know more about what the characters’ relationships with one another look like, making decisions might take on a whole new level of significance. That was definitely the case for game director Corinne Busche. “What I love about those developments is that it really gives us some interesting and compelling decision-making about the choices and the consequences within the game,” she told us. “[The relationships] have an extra level, I think, for the decision making. I don’t want to get into spoilers, but there was a moment where I set the controller down and had to go, Oh my God, how can I possibly make this decision knowing what I know of these two characters and how they feel about each other? Oh, it just really makes it hit.” There’s a lot of emphasis on the inter-character relationships in Veilguard. Not only is there the usual party banter while out and about in the world, but you can also stumble upon conversations between characters back at your home base, mitigate disagreements between them, and read codex entries about their book club meetings, cooking rotation, and other things. It makes sense that writing interactions between these companions might spark some ideas for the writers. “It really does come down to who makes the most sense for these characters and who as the writers we are excited about pairing up,” said Epler. “Because I think something people forget is […] well, it’s not technically fanfiction. It’s the same impetus that drives fanfiction where you’re like, Who are the characters we love the most and who do we want to see together? Who do we think makes the most sense as a couple? And then playing with that and seeing if it actually does make sense.”

[source]

[livefromthedas]

That Time Flirting Accidentally Worked

(Also up on AAO3, here)

Summary:

Rook Ingellvar, famously a dumpster fire amongst Mourn Watchers, manages to fall face-first into dating one Emmrich Volkarin.

Nice.

Notes:

I swear to God I intended to start DATV fanfic writing for my Lucanis/Rook playthrough... but this came out instead. Strike while the hyper-focus iron is hot, I guess.

I tried to write this Rook (F, Mourn Watcher) as vaguely as possible while still making sure she was reflection of the character in my head, so hopefully that works for readers.

Please note that while I'm utilizing quite a bit of canon knowledge about Navarra and Navarran culture, here, there is also a ton about the place that we just do no know, so a lot of information here is extrapolated (aka, pulled directly out of my butt.) I had fun though, at least, exploring more of the place, and creating my own little pocket of extra romance content for Emmrich and Rook as well.

And yeah, this will probably get spicy. Just a heads up.

———————————

Chapter 1: Hot Date for a Hot Mess

The needling fire of over-exertion kept a purposeful momentum in Rook’s stride the entire journey home from their latest magic-riddled battle with the Venatori in Arlathan.

That fight, deep in the autumn hewn forest - an apparent ambush - had been jarring and brutal. Had Davrin not been with them, with Assan to serve as their own surprise attack from the sky, Rook was quite certain that, for all of their combined competency, she and Emmrich Volkarin may very well have met a swift, very bloody end that day.

There had just been so many of them - Scarlet scythe’s crackling with arcane energy, and corrupted magic churning in the air like a turbulent storm. Then again, when it came to Venatori, there always seemed to be a limitless supply.

Rook breathed in deep as she strode through the Vi’revas - the eluvian unique to the Dreadwolf’s hideaway in the Fade - close on Emmrich’s heels. One moment they were in the Crossroads, wild and untethered to reality as it was. The next, they were striding into the cool, dark nethers of the Lighthouse.

“Ugh,” Davrin grumbled, reaching to pull something that looked suspiciously like viscera from his hair as he strode through the eluvian’s surface in the pair of necromancers' wakes, “I’m going to go wash up. See you two at dinner?”

Rook smirked bemusedly - of all of the blood the Gray Warden was soaked through with, Maker forbid a bit of viscera get in the handsome elf’s hair. She nearly went to nod, when Emmrich spun on his heels to face the pair of them.

“Actually,” the Professor poised, hands clasping before him as his bangles glimmered in the unnatural light of the corridor, “Would you be so kind as to let Lucanis know to be expecting two less settings at the table this evening? Rook and I will be dining in Navarra.”

Rook’s eyebrows rose curiously - this was news to her.

“Yeah, no problem,” Davrin grinned. He gestured a hand over one shoulder as he made for the door, “You kids have fun.”

Kids . The word lingered humorously in the air - Emmrich barely stifled a chuckle at it, even in the gray warden’s absence.

“A trip home is a nice surprise,” Rook mused, mischief and curiosity a glint in her eyes.

The senior necromancer, dashing as ever, offered her an arm, and she was quick to place a hand at his elbow as he guided them from the room, and up the stairs.

“Forgive me, darling, I had hoped to ask you properly once we were settled in,” Emmrich said, gloved hand resting warmly upon the slender hand she’d offered him, “Reservations at the Pnemoix are scarce at best this time of year, and I received word of an opening just prior to our departure to Arlathan.”

“Yeah, that got chaotic rather quickly,” Rook admitted, ever as tired, but relieved they were alive to tell the tale at all. For all of her raised hackles that needled up her spine over the ambush in the woods, a tickle of excitement wiggled its way into her belly, “And I’ve heard of the Pnemoix!” Her sudden excitement was palpable. Word amongst her peers back at the Necropolis had it that the Pnemoix was one of the most exclusive- and enchanting - dining experiences in all of Navarra City. It was not far from the city’s main entrance to the Grand Necropolis itself, in fact. Emmrich could scarcely stifle the humorous glimmer in his eyes as the bounce in her step hastened as they strode. He finally slipped a chuckle when her expression then screwed with uncertainty, “Aren’t they ridiculously expensive, though?”

“Hardly any concern of yours, my darling,” Emmrich laughed.

Cresting the top of the stairs that overlooked the Lighthouse’s eerie library, the Professor stopped before the long hall that led to his study. Rook watched curiously as something shifted in his demeanor - warm laughter settling into something warmer still, slender hands and their menagerie of golden rings gracing her arms with an almost reverential care.

“I had hoped, should the temptation arise,” Rook felt a wildfire blush ignite to the tips of her ears at his sudden unusually intimate word choice, before he’d so much as finished his sentence, “We may enjoy the privacy an overnight at home might afford us.”

Emmrich’s grin broadened at the blatant blush that flooded the young woman’s typically cocksure expression, a softness in his gaze despite the hint of mischief that lingered there, “You so scarcely find a moment alone in the Lighthouse, my love. You’ll forgive an old man his selfish desire for attention undivided.”

“I-I… of course,” Rook managed, despite her blush, a dizzying flutter in her chest and her tongue-tie of nerves.

“And the decision is entirely yours,” her breath caught in her throat as he pressed a kiss upon her forehead, one hand affectionately upon the back of her head, “But do consider it, darling, hmm?” He seemed absolutely tickled at Rook’s uncharacteristic shyness as she nodded, green eyes alight with racing thoughts. This was hardly a woman prone to speechlessness, after all. “I’m going to change, and request Neve look after Manfred until we return. Meet me at the Vi’Revas when you’re ready.”

Rook managed a nod before Emmrich swept off airily, stride as confident as ever.

——————-

“Okay… Oookay,” Rook finally managed to breathe again once the ancient chamber doors of her quarters sealed shut behind her. Gaze darting around the dancing light of the aquarium that dominated the far wall, she huffed a ragged sigh, palm to her forehead.

Embarrassment immediately flooded her veins.

“He finally brings it up and you… freeze? Seriously?” She groaned morosely.

At best, Rook was disappointed. It was hardly how she’d imagined reacting to such an opportunity, after all. The Rook of her imagination was unflappable in her confidence - *she* surely would have managed an air of alluring …. *Something* in response to such a proposition. A wicked flirt. A lingering kiss. A clever quip of any make or model at all.

But no. Only overwhelm. Rook had been flooded with a timidness utterly foreign to her usually fearless brogue.

Scythe-wielding Venatori, raging demons, blighted gods… Such larger than life dangers too surreal and too vast to seem anything shy of absurd? That she could handle with a finesse and fearlessness that defied logic. It was precisely why Varric had brought her into the fold in the fight against Fen’Harel to begin with.

“But actually have the fellow you’ve been pining over for the last decade make a pass at you, and your brain breaks ? Maferath’s balls.”

The sordid swear she’d picked up from Varric early in their journeys together at least managed a smile from the woman. She shoved off from the door, kicking off muddied boots and unbuckling the patina’d gloves of her Mourn Watcher gauntlets as she went.

Rook had had little choice but to be honest with the Professor once her shoot-for-the-moon flirtations had, to her own genuine surprise, actually succeeded in swaying his interest so many weeks prior.

This was all… very new to the junior Mourn Watcher. So much of her time growing up had been spent clawing desperately for a sense of self. For the sort of identity that a complete lack of kith, kin or clan denied her for the whole of recent memory. Certainly until one Varric Tethras had swaggered his way into her life and corralled her under his wing.

Something as complicated as dating just never found its foothold with her focus, amid so many years of simply trying to find herself.

She was an elf in a largely human community, a non magic user - despite her endless fascination with the craft - in a society that prized its mages above all. Both facts of which pushed many of her superiors throughout her collegiate studies to blow off and even mock her ambitions towards more magic-focused areas of study.

Rook was an academic at heart - A voracious learner and reader. But for all of her passion, she was still very much an outsider. She was the foundling discovered abandoned deep within the Necropolis - lucky to have been found alive at all - Taken in by a kind and doting pair of elderly Mortalitasi, Gunter and Eloise Ingellvar, who had even gone as far as bequeathing their inheritance to her upon the last of their dual deaths some years later.

But they had gone too soon - Rook had barely been 12 when the old woman had died - and she was once again left as a ward of the Necropolis and its Watchers, who seemed to see less value in an orphaned elf with no magical talents to speak of. Frequently outright denied access to her preferred areas of study due to their prized and limited availability (such courses should be reserved for mages who might make the most use of them after all, and the university’s donors were rife with promising young mages as heirs) she was relegated, instead, to training as a fighter. A protector. A watcher of the Watchers themselves.

Just one extra corpse between demons and the ones whose work actually matters, more like, she thought. She swung open her ornate wardrobe, eyes scanning her limited choice in clothing critically as her thoughts poured from one memory to the next.

Those days were rife with turmoil. Rook had volleyed equally between hours of grueling fight and defense training, classes in basic sciences, necromancy, anatomy, funerary preparations and the Fade, and time dedicated purely to stirring up shit in the streets of Navarra City.

Fights. Petty theft. Stirring up chaos in the market square with a prank or three - one of which had, to her own amusement and pride to that very day, saw a surprisingly large number of bees in a leading role.

Throughout her years of collegiate learning, Rook carried the rage of a clever mind stifled and of dreams dashed, and it had landed her under the threadbare patience and steely gaze of the headmaster more times than she could count. That the Mourn Watch had been tasked with her care as much as her training was likely the only reason she hadn’t been thrown out for good.

It also hadn’t hurt that Rook had proven incredibly adept at combat despite her general lack of interest in the task (outside of a good tavern fistfight, at least.) There was also the curiosity that was her study habits. Her grades in basic courses were passable at best from sheer lack of interest, yet when time and little pockets of determination allowed, she could be found holed up in the Necropolis’s expansive library for hours, even days on end, pouring over every tomb her low-level clearance would allow, creating many tombs further of dense, meticulously detailed notes.

She was at least trying, in her own way, her superiors knew. And where their interest in her full potential failed her, her own thirst for learning minded the gap. Even if she was denied the chance to pursue her major of choice… lectures in the Grand Necropolis’s halls of learning were as free and frequent as the availability and seating of its various expansive lecture halls would allow.

Those educational sermons were hardly for the faint of heart or feeble of mind. They required many dedicated hours, copious notes, and a level of existing understanding of necromancy, the occult and Navarran history as a whole that *should* have been enough to bar a student of Rook’s study tract access by sheer lack of access to advanced classes alone.

But Rook had done the work. Had soaked up every scrap and parcel of knowledge she could, entirely on her own. And in each and every lecture, perched dutifully in the shadows at the back of the room, she soared.

Which was precisely where the good Professor had graced her peripherals, time and time again.

Even nearly a decade prior, Professor Emmrich Volkarin was something of a legend on campus. Prodigiously intelligent and equally skilled in both oration and genuine fondness for the eager young minds he fostered, Rook was hardly immune from the childish swooning over the otherwise utterly unattainable genius that captivated his students with every speech and demonstration.

“Volkarin’s hangers-on.”

Johanna Hezenkoss’s recent jeer at Rook’s expense still made her cheeks run hot. Rook had never been that - certainly not as the insult Hezenkoss intended.

But Rook and Emmrich were both well aware of whom the half-Litch referred to.

Hair a little darker and warm eyes a little bit brighter then, The Professor was too clever and adept at reading people around him to have remained oblivious to the fact that not only were the large majority of doe-eyed students trailing him from office to lectern and back largely of the female variety, but they were also almost always a bit more coy than was comfortable to be sharing a room with for too long. It was always impressive, then, to Rook, just how coolly and kindly said attentions were quite unanimously blown off by Emmrich himself.

He was never once cruel or condescending, but ever the consummate professional. He paid his students’ motivations no mind outside of whatever question he was fielding, or what knowledge he wished to impart, either.

Rook later overheard whispers among a gaggle of gossiping young mages in the privy that, apparently, “half of the fun” of flirting with the man to begin with was trying to “find a crack” in their charming yet unflappably stoic Professor’s perfectly tailored facade.

Of which there was nary a one, as far as Rook knew at the time. The man simply did not budge.

Which was why, despite never having had the stones to so much as approach Professor Volkarin with a question before meeting with him in the catacombs with Bellara months prior, and with nearly ten years of confidence that only incredibly hard work and some life experience could provide, Rook was genuinely floored when her own good-humored and (mostly) unserious swings at flirting with the man *actually worked.*

Rook had only dared shoot her shot with the man with the full confidence that in all likelihood (and at absolute worst) he would simply glance past the attention with his usual jovial kindness. She took a swing at it for younger-Rook, who would have thought it the coolest thing ever, future-Rook finding the sort of confidence her younger self found so foreign.

And the man actually expressed interest. Just fully (warmly as ever but with a degree of coyness Rook had no idea actually existed prior) stated that if, in fact, her projected interest went beyond mere flattery… he was down.

“Hell of a bullseye on the first draw, there, Ingellvar,” she had mused to herself and inevitably shared with Emmrich multiple times since, much to the Professor’s amusement.

Rook pulled the only pretty, non-Mourn Watch related article of clothing she owned - a deep purple gown and its immaculately tailored overcoat - from the wardrobe, before clipping the doors shut with her heel.

Naive shock aside, it wasn’t as though Rook hadn’t been equally delighted by Emmrich’s unexpected response. She had become even more enamored with the fellow in the past many months, as he spoke with her not as a student but as a colleague. An equal.

He adored her thoughts and her intellectual curiosity, and had said as much - often. He was ever the academic, as enthusiastic about answering any question she had as she was to learn the answer. But he was also genuinely interested in all of the knowledge she had gathered in the past ten years - Her interests in Navarran archeology within the ever-ancient Necropolis halls. His in Necromancy and the Fade. It had become a frequent, deeply adored line of conversation between the two of them, in fact - just how often their individual fields of study crossed in application.

Emmrich Volkarin was every bit as charming as his passionate yet professional demeanor would imply. But what Rook came to learn very quickly upon reconnecting with the man was that, on a personal level, he was one of the most compassionate individuals Rook had ever met. He cared deeply, about everything - particularly, it seemed, about the ragtag troop of adventurers she and Neve had since managed to assemble. At 52 years of age, he also, as it turned out, had zero qualms about dating someone - regardless of gender persuasion - over 20 years his junior. He’d simply taken his work as an educator far too seriously when he was young enough to find any interest in university students, let alone misuse the power dynamic between teacher and pupil - and they had, decades later, well since lost their appeal.

So, now, here she was. Two months into the most absurdly romantic courtship she could imagine, given the sheer chaos that surrounded them otherwise.

Fancy dinners. Time spent exploring the Necropolis to feel more grounded - that little bit of home going a long way to keeping them both fixed on the battles that just kept on coming. A recent night stroll through the streets of Navarra City during the ancestral pageants, their darkly artful city glistening with lanterns and wisps.

Emmrich Volkarin was ever a man of his word, too. Early on, when a bashful Rook mentioned her lack of experience in any such relationship, he had promised they’d take things slow, and they absolutely had. Endeared and warm as they were, his kisses were chaste, and his presence around her respectful of her space and autonomy. It had only been since she had started pushing boundaries that he had reciprocated in kind.

Longer, deeper kisses. Tousled hair. Hands wandering with far more bravery - and far more urgency - from both parties, amidst long nights full of even longer conversations.

The cracks in Emmrich Volkarin’s perfectly tailored facade were showing. And, Rook grinned to herself despite the blush reaching her ears, they were admittedly * delicious.*

Rook fastened the copper skull-shaped buttons upon her overcoat before fishing for Varric’s shaving mirror and checking her hair.

She wasn’t entirely sure how she’d expected the acceleration of their relationship to go. Perhaps more spontaneously, and likely in the Lighthouse, despite neither of them having particularly comfortable quarters - his with little more than a cot to sleep on that was otherwise hidden away, and her own space often as chilly as being overlooked by an enormous deep water aquarium would imply.

She certainly didn’t expect it to turn into a Pnemoix-worthy event.

It was, frankly, the first time Emmrich had taken the lead on the direction of relations between them. He had planned every romantic gesture their messy schedules and frequent travels would allow, sure, but every acceleration where intimacy had been concerned had been entirely on Rook.

But, it felt right, the timing.

She wondered if this was his way of saying he felt the same.

Rook slipped on a pair of gold-rimmed glasses (her vision never had been the best, but she’d only just taken to wearing them more faithfully at Emmrich’s encouragement, and insistence that he thought them, “Positively charming.”)

With a flutter of excitement in her chest Rook spared a careless hope that she might make it all the way downstairs to the Vi’Revas without any of their friends asking enough questions to rattle her nerves anymore than they already squirmed.

——————-

The journey was quick and blessedly uninterrupted. Punctual as ever, Emmrich had already arrived. He turned to greet her as she strode his way, having been surveying the towering Eluvian with an air of curiosity just moments before.

Lean and immaculately dapper as ever, golden rings and bangles over luxurious shades of black and jade, a smile swept his features so genuine that it stole a smile from her own.

“Rook,” he mused warmly, “You look exquisite.”

“Could very well say the same to you, Professor,” Rook teased, hand once again gracing the elbow he lent her.

“Shall we?”

[visceralcoma]

So I've been replaying the "Inner Demons" quest for Lucanis. I wanted to collect as much from it as possible for...reasons. All the notes that are "Thought Fragments" and all the echoes we hear as we travel through it. And I got different echoes the few times i played through it and I don't know if there are more lines, feel free to add more but these are the ones I gathered.

Echoes:

Calivan: Useless. All of this. Utterly useless.

Zara: Promoted from flying vermin to malicious spirit. Whatever will you become next, I wonder?

Illario: How long are you going to keep doing this?

Venatori: You should be grateful to give your life to the magister’s research, what an honor!

Zara: Envy is the rarest of all demons. And most challenging to cultivate. The conditions must be perfect. Illario: Cousin stop, you can’t dwell on this. It’ll drive you mad.

Calivan: Couldn’t you simply die already? This experiment has gone on for far too long.

Zara: What trouble you’ve been.

Illario: I get one of you back, only to lose the other.

Illario: Caterina was First Talon. This is Crow Business. We can handle it.

Venatori (lady): When the demon emerges, let me have his entrails, my lady.

Illario: If I were in charge, you wouldn’t have to do this anymore. Zara: What are you hiding, little demon?

Illario: I can’t believe it. You’re home.

Venatori: Ah yes, the Crow. You will learn to regret your crimes against the Venatori.

Thought Fragments:

With Caterina

She gave that ring to my mother. It was the mark of her favor. House Velardo killed my parents and sent it back to Caterina… (So few of us left…)

What if I go after him and get Caterina killed… (All I have left…)

…but we’re more like brothers. Caterina took us both in…(All we had left…)

With Lace

I shouldn’t have let myself fall asleep. This was my mistake… (Spite is here.)

If I cannot stay in control…(Spite is waiting.)

You’d have to kill me…(And Spite would die.)

With Neve

…there aren’t words enough to apologize…(I cannot be this.)

I was distracted. That cannot happen again. I need to get my head on straight… (I’m better than this.)

I didn’t want you to see that. Again…(I’m not this. I cannot be this.)

With Illario

What is he thinking? How am I supposed to deal with this… (What have you done?)

She came after me. She came after Caterina. She will come for you too… (Cousin, what about you?)

Scents:

And here are the scent Spite describes for us. Lace doesn't get a description. Spite also describes Neve's differenlty depending on whether Lucanis's relationship with her is Platonic or romantic.

Caterina: Tenderness and terror. Rage and relief. Old, stale fear of disappointment.

Neve:

Platonic: Strangeness and charm. Something familiar and foreign at the same time. With a little guilt.

Romancing: Stomach churning excitement. Dread with a hint of hope. A long way to fall.

Illario: Sharp. Jagged edges. Hurt with every breath. Grief and relief. Hope and anger. Mixed.

[writerfromshikahr]

A Shadow Dragon (female) Rook's perspective after the big choice. I am currently doing a SD play through and it always struck me as odd that no one speaks to a SD Rook after this, if they have saved Treviso. This is also a pre-relationship moment with Lucanis because I always romance him, let me have my things.

--------------------------------------------------------

Shadows & Dragons - Lucanis X Rook

--------------------------------------------------------

"Neve is taking it hard. Tarquin is beside himself, and Viper… it’s a lot," Lace said, her voice heavy as she addressed the rest of the companions. "Neve’s going to be gone for a while, cleaning up the mess. And, well...we need to do what we can for Minrathous—to help."

Rook stood silently by the fireplace, her gaze fixed on the flames. Had no one considered the weight of the choice she’d made? The destruction of her city hung over her like a shroud. She didn’t regret her decision—Treviso had needed to be saved. The Shadow Dragons had always endured before. That’s why she had sent Lace and Bellara there. With the Templars and Magisters in Minrathous, she had thought her home could stand strong. Treviso had nothing, no one to protect them apart from the Crows—and they weren’t exactly known for slaying dragons.

"Yes, we need to offer whatever help we can to Minrathous and Neve," Lucanis said, his tone steady but concerned. His dark eyes flicked to her. Rook, do you have any ideas?"

Rook turned to him, her expression tense. "You’re asking me?" Her voice cracked under the weight of unspoken emotion. "I’m the reason this happened. Minrathous is my home. I grew up there, played in the streets, and I have—" She faltered, then corrected herself bitterly. "Had family there. Yet not one of you has asked how I’m doing. I know I made the call," she continued, her voice rising. "But those were my people. The Shadow Dragons blame me for the fall of their city, my city, and they’re right. I let them down. Saving Treviso was the right decision—I don’t regret it—but I’m numb. I don’t know what to think, let alone how to feel. And now you’re asking me again…?"

"I… Rook…" Lucanis started, his voice soft but unsure.

"I’ll fix this," Rook interrupted, her voice trembling slightly. "I’ll figure out a way to fix it. But right now? I can’t."

The words felt heavy, almost like an admission of defeat. She looked at Lucanis, searching his expression for something—understanding, perhaps—but found only his quiet concern. "You all talk among yourselves. I need to get some air."

Without waiting for a reply, she excused herself and left the kitchen, her footsteps quick and purposeful. She needed space—room to think, to process—but most of all, to escape the weight of everyone’s eyes on her.

Rook climbed the stairs in a blur, her heart heavy with guilt and frustration. Reaching the balcony, she sighed in relief at the silence, leaning back against the cool stone wall. She closed her eyes, letting the faint glow of the Fade light warm her skin. For a fleeting moment, it was peaceful, a rare reprieve from the chaos below.

Blighted dragons. No one had been prepared for what they’d faced, least of all her. The one in Treviso had been nearly impossible to kill—if it hadn’t flown off, she wasn’t sure they could have stopped it.

Her mind wandered to Tarquin’s words, sharp and accusatory. Neve had been just as upset, though her tone had been a touch less brutal. Only Viper had refrained from placing the blame squarely on her shoulders—not that it brought much comfort.

She understood the urgency, the team’s need to help Minrathous. But what stung the most, cutting deeper than she’d expected, was the complete lack of acknowledgment that Minrathous was her city, too. She’d grown up there, lived its stories, and lost family in its streets.

The damage was done. She couldn’t take it back. But as she stared out at the quiet horizon, one thought consumed her—how can I make this right?

She let out a long sigh, startled when she realized she hadn’t even heard him approach.

"Rook… I’m sorry," Lucanis said softly. His voice was heavy with sincerity. "For what happened to Minrathous."

He lowered himself to sit beside her, his presence grounding despite the weight of the moment. "I don’t think I could have made such a decision," he admitted.

She turned to him slowly, her gaze distant yet resolute. "That’s what I do, Lucanis—make the hard choice and follow through. Whether I can fix everything afterward is another story altogether." She exhaled shakily. "But Neve… the way she looked at me. I don’t think she’ll ever forgive me. And I wouldn’t expect her to."

Lucanis offered her a soft, reassuring smile. "Neve will come around. She’s a sensible woman, Rook, and you were put in an impossible position. You went with your heart—"

"It wasn’t my heart, Lucanis," she interrupted, her voice firm but not unkind. "I went with what I knew. Treviso has no army, no defenses… It wasn’t about yo—" She caught herself, the words hanging unspoken in the air. Her expression flickered with vulnerability as she hesitated before finishing, "Our friendship."

"But thank you," he said softly. "Thank you for saving my home, my people. If you hadn’t…" He paused, his voice tightening. "I can’t even imagine what would have happened if you hadn't helped. I will always be grateful for what you did."

She offered him a half-smile, but it lacked warmth—more resignation than anything else. "At least someone is pleased," she replied, her tone edged with bitterness.

"I’m not pleased that another city—your home—had to be sacrificed for mine," he said, his gaze steady on hers. "But I’m grateful to have a leader—and a friend—who can make the tough call when it matters most."

[pickled0ctopus]

No spoiler personal and honest opinion about Dragon Age the Veilguard

[😀]

Battle is really fun. Even though I love DAO, I’m not typically a fan of tactical combat, and this might be the first DA game where I actually enjoyed the battle.

I like the expanded companion quests. I loved Lucanis' the most.

Semi-realistic comic style works better than I’d expected. The visuals and animations were solid overall, at least for me (still thinking about how Lucanis looked at Rook in that romance scene 👁️👁️). Except for the heavy filters and flashy effects; those were a bit much.

[😐]

Too much repetition. The game recaps constantly, which becomes dull. Like they worried old DA fans won’t remember what just happened a minute ago.

Romance isn’t big compare to previous games. Honestly feels like the weakest romance content of any DA game (well I only remember how much I loved and giggled so much in the old games). Maybe it’s because events in this game unfold so quickly? Just don't expect the same level of content as in DAI. Though, this is just my issue—if you don’t care about romance, it’s fine.

Unfinished story potential. There’s good material here, but it feels half-done. A shame... really.

Choices feel fake. You get three dialogue options, but they’re just slight tone variations of the same line. If you like to playing a jerk in BioWare games, you might be disappointed.

Inconsistent story details. I’m not a lore expert and don’t remember all the characters, but even I noticed some parts didn’t add up well—almost like the writers forgot details from past games too so they just brushed them off. Also removing many choices from earlier games didn’t help; it only made things more questionable.

It’s a fun game that I enjoyed a lot and will replay it just to see Solas again, but do I love it as a DA? I'm not sure.

It’s not about new setting or tone. I was fine with a fresh protag. But now, after finishing this, keeping the Inquisitor as the protag for this end of the Dread Wolf saga would’ve made much more sense to me. I would’ve loved to see the old, ragged Inquisitor raging again like in Trespasser, and give a proper farewell to both the Inquisitor and Solas, whether you swore to save him or not. The writing in this game seems just lacking. In any case, I was just glad to see Solas again and listen to him talking💓 Gareth really nailed it again. The emotion in his voice, I just 😭 I swear Garrus and Solas can send me with their voice alone. Now, I'll just go and sobbing in the corner👍

[usuallydyinginside]

Dragon Age Veilgard Spoilers 👇

TLDR: I never want to hear anyone criticize Neve about “the choice” in Act 1 ever again.

I’m on my second play through for DAV, and one of the things I was most curious about was how the Act 1 choice changes the game. I’ve seen endless hate for Neve and the way she acts if you don’t save her city, and was curious if Lucanis is like weirdly graceful and forgiving about it by comparison.

lol, NOPE.

Here’s the thing, friends. Yes, Neve’s upset when you don’t go to her city, but Lucanis is so much worse about it AND HAS SO MUCH LESS JUSTIFICATION?!?

If you save Treviso:

You’re told upfront that the Venatori will take over if you don’t save Neve’s home. What you aren’t told is that their first order of business before you can even show up post-dragon is to immediately find and wipe out the Shadow Dragons. When you next visit the city, you’ll find a bit of damage from the dragon but there are literally corpses and gallows littering every street—many wearing Shadow Dragon uniforms. Every NPC that you meet at the Shadow Dragon headquarters is either dead or only shows up very occasionally for quests. The entire SD base is deserted, and they basically tell you that everyone but like four people have been killed. Keeping in mind, of course, that this is an org made up primarily of regular and poor people who are fighting against a corrupt regime to end slavery. That was their crime.

Oh, and to top it all off, Neve tells you that her own m little apartment was destroyed too. She has a whole conversation about how the Lighthouse is her only home and your team is most of her remaining family.

Even with all of this, even with how angry and grieving and hurt Neve is, she still forgives you. You can still fully romance her or raise her friendship high. You just have to work for it.

MEANWHILE…

If you save Minrathos:

To me, it sounded like it would be way worse. They put up a big show of how it’ll be mostly civilians who are harmed and how the water will be poisoned. Hence, the first time I did it, I went the other route and saved Treviso.

Except it’s comparatively not nearly as bad?!? The Crow headquarters is, by my count so far, missing only 3 people (Fletcher, Heir, and guy I am suddenly blanking on name who gives a couple quests). All the important Crows are not only still alive—they’re still exactly where you expect. They talk about how empty it is, but it’s really not very and outside in the courtyard it’s downright crowded with crows. Illario is alive and well (haven’t gotten to other surprise family member but I will be shocked if they aren’t also just fine). Teia and Viago are fine. Even Jacobus is so far just fine.

Lucanis still has a giant ass mansion, a fortune, his family, and the majority of the Crows. The Blight is presumably fixable by the end of the game (unlike the Venatori taking over), and the city shows a lot of signs it’ll recover just fine. The only corpses are from the dragon attack which would have really been there anyway despite what the game shows cause either way a big ass dragon attacked.

However, Lucanis becomes immediately dropped as a romance option if you don’t save his city. He reacts objectively more severely after losing far less.

To be clear, I don’t even mind him reacting that wqy! It makes sense if either of them do. What I mind is how many fans are channeling their internalized sexism into dissing my girl Neve.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[lillotte17]

Okay, I’ve done 2 play throughs and I’m well into my 3rd, so I feel like my review of the game can be (mostly) fair and not as emotionally driven as it was when I finished the first time. (this is very long >_>)

I want to start with the good things!

The game is beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. I was not crazy about the stylistic change of the graphics from DAI at first, but once I started playing, I really loved it. The maps are huge and unique. I find something new every time. I love all the little puzzles and sneaky little side quests you can find. I the little sneaky cameos of items and songs from other games.

I love the mechanics of being able to use companions’ special abilities when they are not in your party. I still wish we got 3 people in our party instead of just 2 for balance reasons, but otherwise I find the fighting really engaging and dynamic.

I love that they brought back specific banter spots, shortened the time between when the next banter triggers AND allowed for recovery of the conversation if it got interrupted by something. Thank you for my LIFE. Waiting for certain banters to trigger in DAI was awful lmao.

I really appreciated the effort they put into the CC, allowing for greater body type differences and the various gender options. Long hair, curly hair, please and thank! The CC took some getting used to, but once I got the hang of it, it’s fun just to build characters, lol.

I really liked the easy upgrades and enchantments for your armors, and I LOVED being able to wear whatever the best armor was, but have a different armor visible. Great call, team! Do that for always and ever. The only qualm I had was that I would have liked to be able to change the colors on some of the outfits, but really, there was such a good variety, this is a very minor complaint.

In terms of storyline, my favorite quest was the Blood of Arlathan, and I also liked the final push at the end through Minrathous. Big surprise that the things I liked best was actually getting to fight with Solas on my team again, lol. But those where also the times where it really felt like everything was on the table, you know? Weisshaupt was a strong contender, too. That quest was so fasted paced, it made it a little hard to appreciate just how much was going on around you. But asking your local assassin to stab a god-cloud is never not funny, so that one gets good points, too.

Overall, the gameplay is really strong. The rollout was really smooth. I didn’t really encounter any bugs, except for one time I managed to change all the subtitles to French? But I think that might have been a user error. If I was just here for a generic fantasy game, this would get 10/10. It’s fun to play and it’s pretty. You can stab stuff, and throw magic around, and there are dragons.

However…

The storyline and the pacing was a mess. Which is honestly baffling from a BioWare game. I am not saying this with spite or hatred, because I know that EA tried to kill this game repeatedly, so it’s kind of amazing that we got anything at all, BUT it’s still frustrating, because…I can SEE IT. I can SEE all the pieces of a REALLY good story. An AMAZING story. The story I WANTED to play!!! And it’s like…it all got put together wrong.

The nearly nonexistent romances are honestly the worst offenders here. Even if they wanted to keep the rating down to make it more accessible to a wider audience, there is no reason why I should only have ONE opportunity to kiss my love interest over the course of an 80+ hour game. SOLAVELLAN had more unique romance scenes and kisses than you get with Lucanis and he DUMPS your character before coming back to steal your hand. Not to mention the fact that it is possible for your LI to die before you ever get to actually say you love them or anything. Davrin was my first romance. At the end of Tearstone Island like…I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t feeling my PCs grief that her boyfriend whom she had kissed exactly one time was dead. I was PISSED. I don’t think I have ever been so mad about a writing choice, and I am a certified Tragedy Enjoyer. It didn’t even feel like a good tragic blow, because they didn’t take the time to build up the romance before killing him. And Rook hardly gets a second to mourn afterwards, so it was just kind of a nothingburger that made me feel like I wasted all the time I had spent playing for it. (I went back and changed it so he lived but jfc)

Speaking of killing characters: Varric. It was a mistake. I know what they were going for. I see what they were trying to do. But it was a mistake. First of all, they relied way too much on the idea that the player has played the other games, in the sense that the story just opens with Rook already with Varric, who they have known for over a year, and then they turn around and nerf him in the first act. There’s no time to establish how Rook feels about Varric, or how they feel about this quest they’ve been on for so long, you just get thrown into it without preamble. And then, Varric is just kind of… there. He’s Rook’s cheerleader, but he almost never has any real advice, and you almost never get to have a discussion with him. Which means, when you find out what happened to him later, the emotional blow is relying almost entirely on your attachment to Varric from previous games instead of the game you are currently playing.

Also, I figured out he was dead pretty early on, so the reveal had almost no impact, and felt a bit ham-fisted, if I’m being honest.

The second reason it was a mistake is that…it just felt like an excuse to make the player hate Solas. Like, it honestly feels like that is the only reason they did it. Which seems so unnecessary? The man is responsible for the fucking blight and the death of the titans and is currently trying to tear the Veil down, and you think that’s not ENOUGH motivation for the PC to want to give him the middle finger???

Which brings us to: Solas. I love this man. I love Solavellan. I love his story. I love THEIR story. But…if I had played this game first, I don’t think I would have cared about redeeming him. All of the companions tell stories about second chances and redemption and being able to change your nature, and I KNOW that was supposed to be in reference to Solas, I know it was but… It just felt like they did almost nothing to SHOW you how much he was trying to do the right thing every time he fucked up. How badly he wanted to be a hero and a protector, and someone giving wisdom instead of orders. When we saw his regrets and talked about them with the team, I really thought it was going to be relevant later. I thought it would come up in conversation with Solas, and depending on how you talked to him about the things you saw, you could slowly guide him towards choosing a better path at the end. I thought it would all be on Rook, and their choice to take a chance to try and redeem him or not. But in the end, it didn’t matter. It only unlocked Mythal. She was the only thing that made a difference. Not Rook. Not your Inquisitor. Not any of the other choices you made in the entire game or the one that preceded it. Don’t get me wrong, I am SO grateful they squeezed a Solavellan ending in there for us, really and truly. But the fact that he was so in love with her during DAI that he was about to give up everything without her even asking, and he’s so torn up about her during Trespasser that he can hardly let her close to him because just being in proximity to her makes him want to stop everything and stay with her, and then when she shows up at the end of Veilguard and asks him to stop…he pauses for even less time to consider the option than when ROOK asks. And then Mythal holds more sway with him by like 1000%. Just. Felt very much like a downgrade. (Also I wanted a hug. He needed a fucking hug and my Lavellan would have hugged the Bad Choices right out of him)

There are other things. Dwarves getting sidelined again. Slavery in Tevinter barely being touched on. The weird idea of the Crows being a good option for orphans with nowhere to go. The SUPER uncomfortable end of Bellara’s quest where a non-elf Rook can have an opinion on what she should do with the history of her people. But those are kind of like…small potatoes. Typical BioWare story flubs tbh.

I know, my complaints are much longer than my praises, but I really do like playing the game. Really and truly. It is a good game, and I am eternally grateful that they got it to us at all. I just…wish we could have gotten the story I think they wanted to tell us, instead of what we ended up with. But as they say: That’s what Fanfic is for. <3

[lairofsentinel]

Info compilation of Lucanis Dellamorte (part 1)

Warning: I’m using the incorrect lore that this game has since it is the one that they built the game upon. Inconsistent things such as “The Lighthouse is in the Fade” or “Mind imprisonment” nonsense are not dismissed during this compilation even though they are strongly questionable.

Unfortunately, Lucanis character has a lot of issues in his writing; sometimes conversations feel like they were written by three different persons and the game ends up with a frankenstein dialogue which can be barely followed, and one needs to fill in the gaps to keep it somehow cohesive and coherent. Besides, there are several times where he suffers narrative inconsistency: he says something that gets contradicted mid-game without being part of his “development”, if he has any.

Also, I apologise in advance for my bitterness that sometimes spills into the text like the Blight when it comes to the murder of the Lore that Veilguard has done to the DA world.

The current post has the following sections [bold ones]:

Approvals and disapprovals

Body Language

Eyes

Why the pantry?

High focus, cool head, and professionalism

Food and cooking

Mage-killer specialisation and previous jobs

Death and Life

Crows and Family

Spite and Possession

Sleep and Coffee

Flirt and Romance

Lucanis’ Logbook

Others

Info compilation: Part 1 || Part 2

[this post will be likely updated briefly after I do a playthrough without saving Treviso in case additional information is shown, but probably won't be much]

Approvals and disapprovals

He mostly approves the “determined” and “focused” options [punch/armoured icon] which align with his personality: no giving up, focus on the goal ahead, and enduring the rough consequences. He tends to favour a resolute, blunt approach to problems instead of a diplomatic one. He also approves hard criticism with cold facts, instead of “therapist talks”. However, when it comes to family and loss, a sympathetic approach is approved, showing he is not 100% cold and facts. There is room for kindness, especially among the people he considers “family”. 

In some of the approval situations, we find that approaching Lucanis with the stern/aggressive option to his failure in killing Ghilan'nain earns us approval, showing us, potentially, a glance into the treatment Lucanis endured under Caterina.

He disapproves in few instances [like all companions in this game], one of them includes humiliation in front of the Crows [Biding Farewell] that can be understood as a break in the trust he put on Rook to ask them to come with him in order to keep Spite in check in case he gets out of control. Taking a diplomatic approach when the situation requires immediate action is also another way to earn his disapproval [Option of convincing the First Warden]. 

Body Language

His body language is always tense and awkward. When he starts to talk to Rook, there is a soft swing of his shoulders, as if he were not sure what to do with his arms or hands, then he stays standing in a very rigid way, hands most of the time closed in fists. 

When he is outside the pantry, we can see he remains in this tense position and only sometimes we caught him rotating his shoulders and head, showing how much tension he is always carrying [this also can be reinforced, despite being a joke, with the dialogue that Lucanis and Davrin share about his sudden possession being a tension in his shoulders].

Another position in which we often find him is with his arms crossed when drinking coffee, which tends to be understood in body-language design as a self-defence/protective position/wary position. Again, a position that shows his constant alert state. 

The only position we see him do with some confidence without much tension leaking into it is the one leaning against the wall, usually done when he is thinking about something. However, even in that position, we see he is trying to release tension from his neck. 

In summary, his body language is a reflection of what we learnt in the story The Wigmaker job: Caterina’s training was focused on punishing him with her cane every time he let his guard down [or made a mistake in his footwork]. Now he has been conditioned to the point of being unable to relax.

Eyes

Most of the time, he speaks with a soft frown, and intense eyes locked into the interlocutor. When he is not in a conversation, his eyes tend to be deadpan, emotionless, and there is an intention in their design to try to convey discomfort due to their intensity. This is an attempt to recreate his gaze as described in Tevinter Nights: “As they [Illario and Lucanis] walked through the crowd, he [Illario] basked in the appreciative glances he received, while Lucanis stared ahead, focused and intense. He was the kind of man you couldn’t look away from—until he looked at you.” 

When talking about work and plans, his eyes get locked in this intense, menacing look. Only when the conversation shifts to personal matters, to things that may hint some level of vulnerability [family or loss] or shame [possession], he lowers his sight or looks aside from time to time. 

This pattern is broken once there is some comfort with the person he speaks to and his eyes stay fixed on the interlocutor, or let him see them with his most soft, relaxed looks [Harding’s coffee scene, and Rook’s scenes].

Why the pantry?

He is evasive when explaining why he picked the pantry as his room. Rook-Lucanis banter makes it imply that it is a good place to choke everyone who wants to attack him. Taash-Lucanis banter suggests that Taash perceived the real reason: he “hides” in the pantry to avoid the excess of “Fade” from the rest of the Lighthouse. In Harding’s banter he says “it’s easy to trap Spite, and there are snacks. And no view of the Fade.” So this seems to confirm Taash’s suspicion. We get the idea that the common, main reason why he prefers this place is because it “keeps the Fade away” a bit, and probably makes the symptoms in his eyes less prominent. If we find him outside, close to the stairs, he will claim that the back of his eyes are itchy. 

Another interpretation is related to his imprisoned mind [Inner Demon]. Another potential way to understand his insistence in remaining in the pantry belongs to the coping mechanism he chose to use to process his traumatic experience of capture and possession: he remains in a cell-like environment because it brings him the comfort that he would be more contained and would not hurt unnecessarily the people he cares about [Rook, the team]. However, his situation in the pantry does not change once Rook helps him in processing this trauma, so I’m inclined to think it’s more a Fade-related cause than a coping mechanism of his recovery from the horrors of the Ossuary.

It’s also important to highlight that in his Logbooks we learn he has some mixed feelings with the sense of time that the Lighthouse gives, and seems to compare it with the timeless sense of the Ossuary. It’s clear that not having a cycle of day-night in this place makes him as uncomfortable as he was in his prison, and that may be another reason why he is in the pantry, which has no windows [so he can’t see that the day-night cycle doesn’t exist].

High focus, cool head, and professionalism

Lucanis is presented as a character who over-analyzes situations to have the perfect outcome. This is part of his professionalism. It is also what helps him focus even when he is dealing with personal issues as his new condition as an abomination. His personality seems to be more than adequate for feeding a Determination spirit, which twisted becomes into Spite. Spite mostly in the sense of “doing things/keep on doing things out of spite”. His whole arc is based on this concept of Spite: resisting, enduring, and keep working despite all the obstacles, in a “harmful” way [which is granted automatically by his profession as an assassin].

He endured Caterina’s training, and the Ossuary, because he wanted to live. There is a stubbornness in him for living, no matter the cost, and hence why he struck a deal with Spite in the Ossuary so he could not be used by him as a cocoon. 

In terms of lore, if we assume this game kept any [very bold of me to think so], it would imply that Spite is comfortable in this host because Lucanis keeps feeding him the emotion that is his nature. And not only that: Lucanis’ determination also could potentially feed the “original” emotion that Spite was. It’s hard to know if this was originally a hint for a future transformation of the demon back to his spirit form [as we saw with Cole in Asunder, or with Solas’ friend in his personal quest in DAI]. So, determination and high focus with a high threshold to endure adversity are traits quite clear for his character.

His cool head is also shown when he discovers that Caterina was killed. His first reaction is “I need to work, I need a target”. This shows not only his high-focus personality, but also the state in which he has been during all that year in the Ossuary: he survived because he shut down his mind and emotions, and focused on a goal: escape” [Davrin-Lucanis banter]. Now he is doing the same, but with work, so he can avenge Caterina’s death.

He doesn’t dwell on his mistakes, but analyses them [Harding-Lucanis banter]. The high focus and cool-head trait is also present in the way he approves several options related to not wasting time on trivial things and focus on the target ahead. Questioning flawed logical sentences also earn his approval [Coffee with the Crows], reinforcing his taste for analysis and logical thinking. He does not accept being called paranoid for being logical. [Coffee with the Crows].  

Another instance where we see his exhaustive focus is during Caterina’s funeral [Bidding Farewell] where Lucanis asks Illario in an intense way more than 10 questions, extremely focused on how Caterina was killed. This shows some level of emotion in him, but also this control-obsession personality of his: he is already working to find the target, to avenge Caterina. As his logic continues he claims that since the First Talon was the sharpest of all the Crows, it was impossible to catch her unaware, the reason why her death makes even less sense [Bidding Farewell]. This attitude also reinforces the idea said above about how relentless he becomes when he has a target and a clear goal [he goes on out of spite]. I think part of the writing in this aspect, so “obsessive” may have been reused from his original design: he was meant to struggle with a spirit of Passion turned into a demon of Obsession, but it did not make it into the game [Game file description of Spite]. This is also, potentially, one of the sources of so many narrative inconsistencies, I assume.

Professionalism is a constant in his character and may have been the main wall to break in order to approach him had he been written as a real Bioware character. It’s not only the cool-headed and high-focus personality, it’s also his insistence in seeing things devoid of emotions as much as possible, translating all into contracts, finances, or fair exchanges. Things must be done with logic in it and a lot of professionalism. He claims that he owes Rook for rescuing him, so the reasons to accept this contract with Rook is not just the last contract ever given by Caterina to him [sentimental reason], it’s also a personal debt he feels he has to pay out of professionalism [logical reason, it’s a mere exchange: he has to do his expertise of killing mages to justify the ordeal of having been rescued]. 

He encourages to delegate tasks that are not of his expertise to other professionals. This may be a reason why he has a contract negotiator who keeps track of the ratings of his work and other aspects [Bellara and Neve banter]. He always agrees and approves of Rook letting experts do their job [perfectly following Taash’s explanations in how to hunt dragons], showing how much he values professionalism and specialised expertise not only for himself. 

We see more of this aspect of self-control in Bloodbath, where he faces Zara. Spite is taking control of his body as he wants revenge, but Lucanis stops the process when Zara offers to give the name of the traitor Crow. The control lasts until Illario appears and kills his target, making Spite impossible to control. However, even in that state of rage, an aspect of Lucanis can surface to ask Rook for help and prevent him from killing Illario. That is a testament of his strong will, his focus, and his sentimentalism as well: he fears deeply to release a demon that can kill the people he cares about.

Food and cooking

He [and Bellara] are the main cooks of the group. They dismiss Harding’s [lack of] cooking skills. [Lucanis-Bellara banter]

Lucanis loved Cioccolata calda as a child, and “grilled treviso with citrus bagna cauda” as he was growing up. [Personal quest and Lucanis-Bellara banter]

He learnt to cook when he was a boy, helping the kitchen staff of the Villa. It kept him entertained between Caterina’s training, but his main goal was to learn how to make churros [Emmrich-Lucanis banter].

His care for the people he loves is partially shown through his food and in how thoughtful he is with what everyone eats/drinks. [Whole game]

Lucanis has a strong rejection of tea [Coffee with the Crows quest] and claims that he doesn’t require the comfort that tea offers. He requires the “jolt of wakefulness from a brew as bitter as a year in bondage beneath the waves” [Harding-Lucanis banter, before Inner Demon]

Food is one of his care languages, as well as his apologising one. The more he cares for someone, the more he focuses on their preferences and tastes.  He also keeps track of every detail of the group: in his quest to do shopping, he picks a potted plant that prevents bad dreams for Harding, seafood special for Bellara who wants to try Dalish dishes, a bone for Assan to chew on, fine glassware for Emmrich, and fresh fruit for Neve. He only does not give anything special to Davrin nor Rook [lol, narrative inconsistencies]

Mage-killer specialisation and previous jobs

He was called Demon of Vyrantium before the possession. This reputation made him famous among the Shadow Dragons due to his expertise in killing Venatori. His services as Demon of Vyrantium are very expensive [Neve-Lucanis Banter]. He suspects that it was Viago who started the title in the Tevinter news sheets and it simply stuck [Emmerich-Lucanis banter with Crow Rook].

He has a high focus on being professional. He wants to get the job done, clean, and complete without caring about the “manners” [Davrin-Lucanis banter]. He claims that Caterina taught him to work in this way, since he makes a difference between completing a job and doing a job well, something that Illario never understood. This is reinforced in some codices when Lucanis killings have a clear professional touch, while Illario’s are a bit more “extra” or “show-off” [Imperium Secret: A Fortunate Heir ].

He ended up specialising in killing mages due to Caterina’s decision of targeting new markets. In the South, mages have no power, so there are no contracts for them, but in the North, they have status and therefore, enemies. He claims that the mages in Nevarra are especially dangerous because “Fireballs are not a threat like coin in political pull” [Emmrich-Lucanis banter]

He repeats that there is a difference between murder and assassination. Murderers, in his perspective, are hobbyists and they are not paid. 

There is no secret technique to kill mages: “be fast, strike hard, and stay out of sight”, and if it doesn’t work, “piss them off” so the demon will eat them [Harding-Lucanis banter]. Lucanis claims that his technique to go after most targets, specially mages, is similar to Taash’s technique of hunting dragons: create a distraction, hinder their escape, hurt them to break their concentration, and finish them off. He adds that it’s like a dance, or a seduction [although he is not sure about the latter] [Taash-Lucanis banter]

He can put himself in his target’s shoes more out of practicality [to better track them down] than sympathy. [Emmrich-Lucanis banter] 

Lucanis doesn’t like necromancy, partially because of his experiences with the Venatori, but also because it complicates his work [Emmrich-Lucanis banter]. There were contracts that needed to be rearranged when the target was killed and later reanimated [Neve-Lucanis banter].

He has taken other contracts that do not involve mages. He claims that he never killed an innocent, by his count [Emmrich-Lucanis banter] but he is aware that his count may differ from others’.

Lucanis has a particular vision of his profession that mitigates moral conflict: he claims that “death comes to everyone, in time. He is just paid to deliver it quickly”. [Emmrich-Lucanis banter] This argument was exactly the same one used by Zevran in DAO.

Lucanis is evasive when asked how he decides when a target deserves to die. He claims that the target has to have “merit”, usually decided by the Talon of the house. He thinks that killing meritorious targets is “providing a service”. If the target doesn’t deserve to die, he still insists on seeing his job as a way to speed up the natural process of death [Davrin-Lucanis banter], returning to the previous argument in the item above.

Despite claiming to never fail a contract in many of his scenes, Lucanis narrates two episodes where he decided not to kill the target and, by extension, break the contract [narrative inconsistency]: “Once, a target killed an important politician and went on the run. The family wanted retribution” but he let her live. “She was a servant, and the politician had been beating her. So the servant returned the favour”. The other case was a teenager of 14 y/o who robbed and poisoned a man. Lucanis claims he “doesn’t kill that young since there is still time for them to change”. [Davrin-Lucanis banter]. The first episode brings the Lucanis we saw in The Wigmaker Job to our mind: he supports revenge from victims of any kind of abuse, and maybe this interpretation allows to give room to the concept of Spite and how comfortable he may be in this host that supports this kind of emotion. In the end, these inconsistencies make us feel the character was written by several people and never truly synthesised.

Lucanis knows quite a lot about Grey Wardens because he had contracts with them, specially with Wardens that, fearing the Calling, hired him to kill them. [Davrin-Lucanis banter]

He has a contract negotiator that he keeps offering to Bellara and Neve [Bellara/Neve-Lucanis banter]

Another aspect of his love/care language is by promising to kill all those that endanger the people he cares about without the need of a contract involved since “it is on the house” [several banters].

Death and Life

He sees death as a place of rest and oblivion: “Everything dies. People, cities, empires. Fashions. Your favourite song. Things fade and are forgotten. Why would you want to outlast what you love? It sounds like a terrible fate” [Emmrich-Lucanis banter]. 

He has normalised the concept of death that he is not affected by it, or at least not in the same way that normal people do. After narrating how he lost most of his family during a Crow war for the First Talon title, Bellara apologises for asking about Lucanis’ family. However, Lucanis answers with a cold response: apologies and sympathy are not needed, “if anyone knows that people die, it is an assassin” [Bellara-Lucanis banter].

We can also see that these small pieces of information about death gives us an idea why in his romance [despite being poorly written] he claims that “all what he knows is death”, and there is an implicit meaning in it: he knows that all what he can hold dear will die eventually, and all his life is made of loss and death. His family’s business is Death as well. Hence the fear of losing Rook, because there is a certainty in it. Eventually it will happen. However, this attitude is fought against with his trait of relentlessness, of not giving up: he will spread death to others in order to prevent Rook’s death [I know the scene doesn’t convey this truly, but it is what I think it tried to imply, specially if put in contrast with the others in which Lucanis speaks about killing the enemies of Rook to keep them safe].

Despite being so involved with death, Lucanis still reaches for life: it is his desire for life, for survival, what kept him alive in the Ossuary and willingly to make a deal with Spite. No matter the cost, he wants to live. He appreciates the simple moments which he considers worth fighting for. He believes that “one has to live fully to live truly”, but he acknowledges the irony of that sentence when it comes to his life: always determined by Caterina and the expectations of the Crow. However, after asking him if maybe the Ossuary shifted his perspective to look for change, he claims that what matters the most for him is the people he is with [Coffee with the Crows]. This shows that despite having a desire to “live fully and truly”, Lucanis always chooses to stay with the people he considers “family” because at the end of the day it is what matters for him. Unfortunately, this is what the game tells us. In The Wigmaker Job, I think we can suspect hints of need for change in his character, but these were never developed in the game. 

Crows and Family

Lucanis’ mother died when he was young, during the war of succession among the Crows. All his family died with the exception of Caterina, Illario, and him [Inner Demon quest]. He was raised by Caterina alongside with Illario [Taash-Lucanis banter].All his family memebers were Crow and he claims that “Death is the Dellamorte family business” [Bellara-Lucanis banter]. However, he claims that the responsible ones for his family's death have been “ash and dust” for years, so his family must have been avenged, I assume by Caterina. [Bellara-Lucanis banter]

Caterina had 5 children and 8 grand children [Inner Demons quest], we don't know if Lucanis had siblings among those or all were cousins.

He describes Caterina as intense, hard to live up to her expectations. He knows she is proud of him but also knows she will not show it [Taash-Lucanis banter]. He says it was hard to be close to Caterina, even for him who is her favourite, due to his pleasing-behaviour most likely. Teia confesses that Caterina claimed that Lucanis “could do no wrong” [Bidding Farewell] which Lucanis dismisses, claiming that it’s easy to look good compared to his cousin. 

When Rook gives a wyvern-tooth dagger to Lucanis, he claims that Caterina did not allow him to have one [why? It was a dagger after all, and Caterina was teaching him to be an assassin. More narrative inconsistencies]

Lucanis assures us that his grandmother lived an exciting life: she killed a man with a thimble. [Harding-Lucanis banter]

 He calls Illario his cousin but he sees him more like a brother and his only friend until Rook appears in his life [Personal quest]. He and Illario were taken in when they lost their parents, and were submitted to Caterina’s training, which is described as “torture”, but despite resenting her when Lucanis was younger, he does not do it anymore [Personal quest]. I suspect this is because Caterina gave him the tools to survive the unforgivable, rough life of a Crow. Because her family was weak and not prepared, they were wiped out by the Velardo House. She must have decided to save the little that remained of her family through punishing, tortuous training, teaching Lucanis in particular to never let their guard down. We know via The Wigmaker Job that she hit Lucanis’ back with her cane every time he messed his footwork or let his guard down, keeping in him a conditioned reaction of a tingling sensation on his back and a personality that prevents him from relaxing. The abuse of Caterina was undeniable, but it was a “Crow” care language, twisted as crow life is: they had to become resilient survivors if they did not want to end up dead as well. 

He claims he knew he was going to be a Crow when he was young. And he wanted to be one “most of the time” [Neve-Lucanis banter].

His training as a Crow involves “acrobatic work from the time they are children. It’s brutal and punishing”. [Taash-Lucanis banter]

Lucanis cares about Ilario despite knowing he “is impulsive and has his head in the clouds”. Lucanis had to keep him out of trouble more often than not, but “he always stood by Lucanis through his own”. [Pantry banter].

He narrates briefly 2 anecdotes with Illario: 1) He spent 4 hours in the market with Illario once looking for silk gloves to impress a woman that Illario was interested in [Shopping quest]. 2) In the quest “The price of the past”, there is a blighted wreckage ship in the sea, which triggers a short narration where he claims that, putting aside the blight, such a sight is how he ended up after a sailing day with Illario. 

He confirms that regular Antivan afternoons are about “danger, intrigue and family drama” [Bellara-Lucanis banter]. Talking things in his family is about waiting for a public event, for example, Caterina’s birthday, and making a scandal that ends up with Viago and Teia soothing the situation by force or poison [Harding-Lucanis banter].

When it comes to family, he has a pleasing-focused behaviour [“he wants to make happy everyone around him”], trying to agree with his family members, hence why he follows all the expectations that Caterina put on him, and has low conflict with Illario [until his personal quest goes on], Teia, and Viago. He is a mirror of the pleasing-focused behaviour that Harding has [Harding-Lucanis banter and scene of coffee with Harding]. This is a potential explanation of his low conflict behaviour in the team [but we all agree it’s mostly the general sanitised, bad writing of the game].

Lucanis claims that from the dozen Crow houses, he would only recommend five [Emmrich-Lucanis banter].

Most house leaders are family by blood or adoption. The rest of the houses “recruit” people from armies or trades. And sometimes, promising Crows are poached by other houses. “Stay with a house long enough and you will get the family name”. [Bellara-Lucanis banter] [we all know the lore of the Crows is a lot darker than this, but this is Disney DAV]

He teaches Taash how to “kill with flair”, showing that the line “the Crows send their regards” is intimidating enough to let others think that their target’s death meant nothing. The line has to have manners too so the contrast accentuates the effect. The goal of the clever line is to unnerve the enemy, so they don’t swarm the Crow when they are still vulnerable after the strike. [Taash-Lucanis] 

He asks if Divine Victoria is dangerous, explaining that the Crows have a lot of contracts for her [Harding-Lucanis banter] which shows how he is always low-key gathering information for future jobs.

[frotees-corner]

Me: Ok, next I’m gonna make a Dude, explicitly to romance Neve, so I can make myself save Minrathous and get more Shadow Dragon content for once!

*creates hot Grey Warden warrior and puts him the prologue*

Also me: Makes another elven mage, Mourn Watch this time, because mage is The BEST, to romance Lucanis AGAIN, and plays that one instead.

I may have to reroll that Warden as a mage if I actually want to play him 🙈 (srsly, I enjoy blasting thorugh enemies with orb and dagger from the middle-distance way too much) Not to mention my issues of imprinting on one character and forever more only romancing that one. That city-choice-lockout is my own personal hell.

[bleummie]

SOS Y’all I’m struggling with the decision of what faction to make my Rook when I’m aiming for a Lucanis romance this playthru.

What are ppls favourite faction dynamics? On one hand, the angst from a Shadow Dragon romance would be cool, to see Rook struggle with the decision to save Treviso over Minrathous. I’ve heard mixed things about the romance from this faction tho, and about how it’s handled after the big boy decision where everyone is like “I hope Neve is okay!” And rook is like ☹️👍 “it was my home too but like okay buddy.” That might be the point where it’s like maybe not for this faction this time.

On the other hand, I love the idea of a completely feral country bumpkin Veiljumper Rook with Lucanis because imagine the absolute contrast between certified RichBoy Dellamorte and “you will never catch me wearing shoes, and I scrounge up food like a vulture” Rook Aldwir. Like they stand out like a sore thumb in cities, is wowed by the sheer size and amount of people in marketplaces, and is completely new to anything remotely fancy Lucanis would be used to growing up in a rich Crow house.

Then we also have Rook De Riva, Viago’s problem child and absolute nightmare, who was raised amongst the Crows like Lucanis. I like the familiarity with Treviso and the dynamic with Viago, but I’m not sure I wanna do a Crow Rook playthru again. I’m on the fence about this one because of the fact they would be from the same background? I dunno. The reaction from the dynamics of ANOTHER De Riva being the subject of Lucanis’ affections is pretty funny to me. I dunno.

BUT THEN we have certified freak™️ Rook Invellgar, crypt baby, raised by undead, and complete and utter odd duckling in the party (until Emmrich). They’re odd, yes, a little gothic, maybe, but overall completely baffled by the customs outside of Nevarra. Idk I’ve heard that there’s a lot of chemistry with Emmrich if you’re a Mourne Watch Rook, but I think it might be funny for Lucanis to just have a necromancer partner as an assassin.

what do ppl think?

[ranger-danger]

So far my biggest complaint with datv is that rook doesn’t get treated like a main character deserves. No emotional moments, they rarely if ever get comforted, and they rarely get to express a personality outside of “Im the leader.” Even with Varric and the Inquisitor Rook gets treated like a leader first and foremost, someone forced to make all the big decisions and influence the way people’s lives go. Even in relaxed moments the decision always falls back on Rook.

Despite the fact that a Warden rook is commented on being a warden pretty often, they never get asked how they’re feeling after Weisshaupt. The game has other wardens know and recognize Rook, many dialogue lines exclusive to being a warden, but for some reason one of the big warden quests is completely devoid of Rook’s place in it. Even during Weisshaupt Rook is clearly written as a warden, comments on actively occurring events, but for some reason right after Weisshaupt the game forgets that Davrin and Rook are wardens.

Other defined aspects of Rook are also disregarded too. The game talks a lot about Neve and Lucanis not sleeping enough, but Rook doing the exact same thing (if not worse) is rarely adressed outside of Varric (there’s probably other examples, but I’m pretty sure Davrin comments on Rook finally getting some rest when they get together).

The most emotion I’ve seen rook permitted to express so far was at D’Meta’s Crossing and when they walked around a Venetori controlled Dock Town. But with those examples it still wasn’t that personal to Rookz

Granted all of the severely emotional shit Rook is going through, all after seeing their friend get stabbed in the chest, releasing blighted gods, and being forced up into a position they weren’t prepared for, would work if the game adressed that characterization of Rook. If the game tried to have the gods use Rook’s repressed or disregarded emotions to manipulate them. Or if Rook got a moment to actually have it all crashing down on them. If Rook also got to have coping mechanisms for everything alongside the companions, really anything that gave Rook more personal things outside of Leader.

Yeah there’s the symbolism with the chess piece, of being stable and powerful. But you can still show that without only having them be that. If anything it shows that more when they’re also capable of being more. The game also mildly mentions the bird in an achievement, which also would’ve been cool to expand on.

I like the game, while it’s not really what I would consider an RPG (dialogue wheel + voiced mc kill that really quick), I just wish Rook’s character got to have a place other than just the leader. Or vise versa, that the fact Rook doesn’t get to be anything other than the leader was explored and used as a chance for characterization (both with companions & Rook).

The game isn’t that bad, again I have found myself liking it a lot, it’s just glaring issues like this that upset me. I feel so upset for Rook, so empathetic? It feels weird getting upset on behalf of a character that should be permitted to cry, and maybe be suicidal, on their own.

I still haven’t finished the game, I got past beating the three blighted dragons then fucked up and now I have to restart the entire game, but this has been a smaller but important thing I’ve noticed. Normally small details like forgetting a romance comment aren’t something I’d think made the game better, but this isn’t that small of a detail. Rook got robbed of everything outside of being the leader and maybe their romance. Which sucks because Rook is a pretty decent main character being that they’re set out to be a wild-card.

I complain a lot about bg3 getting bullshit updates despite the fact it’s been out full-release for so long, because it does suck and they are bullshit, and cannot deliver the game from horribly mediocre writing (or thousands of bugs). But it does sting a little to know datv probably isn’t going to get an update that gives Rook more moments or bringing in cut content.

Also on that note, if you want to expand or agree I’d love it, but would appreciate if you didn’t include spoilers.